BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO - BRITISH " JOHN RICHARD ARCHER " WAS A BRITISH RACE AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST : POSSIBLE ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT TO BE ELECTED TO PUBLIC OFFICE IN BRITAIN AS A COUNCILLOR IN BATTERSEA AND IN 1913, BECAME THE FIRST MAYOR IN LONDON : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

                            BLACK               SOCIAL           HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         John Richard Archer  8 June 1863 – 14 July 1932  was a British race and political activist. In November 1906, he was among the first people of African descent to be elected to public office in Britain as a councillor in Batter sea, and in 1913, the first black mayor in London.

Life and career

Archer was born in Liverpool to Richard Archer, from Barbados, and Mary Theresa Burns, from Ireland. He travelled the world as a seaman, living in the USA and Canada, then settled in Batter sea with his wife, Bertha, a black Canadian. He ran a small photographic studio.

Archer became involved in local politics and friendly with London radicals. In 1906 he was elected as a Progressive (Liberal) to Batter sea Borough Council for Latch mere ward; at the same time,Henry Sylvester-Williams won in Marylebone. He successfully campaigned for a minimum wage of 32 shillings a week for council workers but lost his seat in 1909 and was re-elected in 1912.

In 1913, he was nominated for the position of Mayor (at that time a position implying that he was the political lead

er of the Council, rather than the ceremonial role common in England from the 1920's). There were negative, even racist, aspects to the campaign, with allegations that he did not have British nationality. He won by 40 votes to 39 among his fellow councillors, and gave a notable victory speech:

"My election tonight means a new era. You have made history tonight. For the first time in the history of the English nation a man of colour has been elected as mayor of an English borough.

"That will go forth to the coloured nations of the world and they will look to Batter sea and say Batter sea has done many things in the past, but the greatest thing it has done has been to show that it has no racial prejudice and that it recognises a man for the work he has done."

Archer moved to the left during his years in Batter sea and was re-elected to the Council as a Labour representative in 1919. He stood without success for parliament the same year. In 1918 he became President of the African Progress Union, working for black empowerment and equality. In 1919 he was a British delegate to the Pan-African Congress in Paris. Two years later he chaired the Pan-African Congress in London.

In 1922, he gave up his council seat to act as Labour Party election agent for Shapurji Saklatvala, a Communist activist standing for parliament in North Batter sea. He convinced the Labour Party to endorse Saklatvala and he was duly elected one of the first black MPs in Britain. He and Saklatvala continued to work together, winning again in 1924 until the Communist and Labour parties split fully. In the 1929 general election, Archer was agent for the official Labour candidate who beat Saklatvala.

Archer served as a governor of Batter sea Polytechnic, President of the Nine Elms Swimming Club, Chair of the Whitley Council Staff Committee and a member of the Wandsworth Board of Guardians.

He was again elected in 1931, now for Nine Elms ward. At the time of his death in 1932, he was deputy leader of Battersea council. He died on 14 July 1932, just a few weeks after his 69'th birthday. His funeral was held at the Church of Our Lady of Carmel in Batter sea Park Road on 19 July, and he was buried in the Council’s cemetery at Morden.

Until recently Archer was thought to be the first Black man to be elected Mayor in Britain. However the American Negro Year Book 1914 in reporting Archer's election also recorded that "In 1904 Mr Allen Glaisyer Minns, a col’d man from West Indies, was elected Mayor of borough of Thetford, Norfolk"